India saved greater than 34 lakh lives by its covid vaccination drive: Stanford University report

The Covid-19 drive undertaken by India and the lockdowns to stop its unfold saved greater than 34 lakh lives and prevented a lack of over 18 Billion US Dollars, a report by Stanford University has mentioned.

The working paper by Stanford University and Institute for Competitiveness titled ‘Healing the Economy: Estimating the Economic Impact on India’s Vaccination and Related Issues’ was launched by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday, February 24.

Speaking on the event, Health Minister Mandaviya shared that India has carried out the biggest vaccination marketing campaign in historical past, offering over 2.2 billion doses to folks over the age of 12 with 97 p.c protection of the primary dose and 90 p.c protection of the second dosage.

He additional mentioned, “Much before Covid-19 was declared a public health emergency by World Health Organization (WHO) in Jan 2020, processes and structures to focus dedicatedly on various facets of pandemic management were put in place. India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted a ‘Whole of Government’ & ‘Whole of Society’ approach in a proactive, preemptive and graded manner thus adopting a holistic response strategy, for effective management of Covid-19.”

The report mentioned the vaccination prevented a complete lack of $18.3 billion, with the online profit standing at $15.4 billion after accounting for the price of the vaccination drive. The report mirrored that the advantages of vaccination exceeded its price and advised that vaccination ought to be thought of a macroeconomic stabilizing indicator and never only a well being intervention.

According to the Stanford report, the direct and complete influence of vaccination different from about $ 1.03 billion to $ 2.58 billion if minimal wages are thought of inside the age distribution class.

“The same, however, varied from about $3.49 billion to $ 8.7 billion if GDP per person employed (constant) is considered. The cumulative lifetime earnings of the lives saved through vaccination (in the working age group) rolled up to $ 21.5 billion. Moreover, since vaccination also saved the lives of the elderly, this indirectly helped prevent the health infrastructure from getting overwhelmed and thereby allowing for more judicious use of the existing health infrastructure,” the report advised.

India began the administration of Covid-19 vaccines on 16 January 2021. As of January 2023, India has administered over 2.2 billion doses general, with over 95% of the inhabitants receiving at the very least one dose of the vaccine.